Just Say Yes, by Helena Nolan

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single barmaid in possession of a large bossom must be in want of a man.

And she's not saying but she's thinking - take yer leery eye off me, you and yer awl bird and that leg going tap, tap, tap - here, drink yer beer and go sit by the fire, I'm not standin' here all day for your amusement, longhaired, half-eyed tramp, and the smell!

Ah, but if only she would say yes, say yes John, yes, the pleasures I could show her and the tales that I could tell, yes, whisper where these limbs have been, what these eyes have seen, the world was never so strange as when I was so strange to it, I was a stranger yes, in a day that went on forever, day and night in the same thought, yes, I could deliver it to her, the taste, the scent, the touch, with one kiss, one breath, we could eat that day together, devour it, live it all again, if she would only see me as a man and say yes, John, yes, I will, yes.